My lips brush the scruff on his cheek, then his dry lips. “Are you alright? Have you been hurt?” I ask, even though I can see from his demeanor that he’s not himself.
“I’ll be okay. It’s just good to hold you,” he murmurs, lowering his forehead to mine.
A throat clears behind us, and I turn to see my siblings waiting.
“I’ll be back before daybreak. Meet me at the outside door, and don’t delay. I’ve paid a fortune to get you out, but we must have you back before the guards change.”
Kieran releases me and crosses to my brother, pulling him into a tight hug. “Thank you. You’ve given us a final chance to be together.”
Gabe shakes his head. “Don’t talk like that yet. We’ll get you out.”
He escorts Astoria from the room, leaving us alone.
46
Kieran
The door clicks shut, and Gen and I are finally alone. There’s a tentative stillness in her body as she looks at me from across the room, her face a mix of disbelief and desire.
“I didn’t think this would be possible,” she says quietly as I move closer. “I tried, Kieran—I tried so hard to find out who caused the rot, but we’re running out of time. We have no leads, and the trial is tomorrow, and I don’t know what else to do.” Her voice breaks, and it feels like my own heart cracks with it as I pull her into my chest, her tears seeping through my thin shirt.
“You’re doing so well, Princess. You’ve done everything you can. Tonight all I want is to be with you.” I can’t tell her this could be the end of us, just as we thought we were getting a fresh start. The reality of that is a cruel, bitter medicine I can’t bear to swallow. Only two days ago she was mine in my own home. Now I’ll most likely lose her forever.
She pulls back, a frantic look in her eyes. “I can’t lose you again.”
Before I can speak, she goes to her wardrobe and begins pulling out clothing, piling them on the floor. Her eyes are wide, her face pale and strained.
“What are you doing, Gen?” I ask cautiously.
“We should run. We should leave Naseria, flee the country together now. We can be at the border by morning.”
I shake my head. It’s fucking selfish how badly I want to say yes and run away with her, but I know I will not run again. I will never run—not after letting myself be cast aside nine years ago.
No. We have to face this, fight our own battles, and accept that tonight may be our last night together. I won’t waste a moment of it making plans to flee.
I rest my hand on her back as she tears through her belongings. “Gen, Princess, don’t do this. We aren’t running. You have too much at stake, and I know how important the crown is to you.”
She pushes back, insisting it’s our only chance, insisting she won’t live without me—and for a heartbeat I fear that if I die in two days’ time, she might follow through on that claim.
But we both know my Gen is steel forged in the hottest fires. She’s too stubborn and too determined to lead this country into something better to lose herself over my death.
I pull her into me, feeling the fight drain from her body as she cries. Slowly, she softens, her sobs tapering into muffled breaths.
“You’re right,” she finally says. “Even if we did flee, my mother would never let us go. She’d never let us slip into anonymity. If only because, in her eyes, it isn’t my right to live without the crown. But, Kieran, Icannotlose you. I will fight for you until the very end. There must be a way to free you from these charges.”
I nod, giving her the reassurance she needs. “The lawyers are working through the night. Leland is helping, and I think they’re buildinga strong case that I couldn’t possibly be guilty of all these crimes. We won’t stop fighting.”
All of these things are partly true. The case still isn’t strong—not without the guilty party coming forward. Not when the queen is determined to see me convicted. Naseria’s justice system becomes nothing but a façade if the monarch has a vested interest in the outcome.
She looks at me as though she doesn’t fully believe a word I’m saying. Good. She needs that skepticism. She should be questioning everything, because if her mother can do this to me, then what has she done to others? No matter what happens, I need Gen to pick up the pieces and keep fighting for what she knows is right.
And selfishly, I just want to move on from this conversation long enough to savor my last hours with her.
I close the distance between us, sliding my hands around her full hips. “How do you want to spend our time together tonight, Princess?”
A shadow of a smile touches her lips, though the weight of tomorrow is still there in her eyes. “You’re right. I don’t want to spend it worrying.”
I’m not letting her off the hook that easily. I want her to say it. “That didn’t answer my question.”
